The subject matter herein relates generally to electrical connectors that provide a signal path along right angles or other transverse angles.
Some electrical connectors are right angle connectors with mating and terminating ends that are oriented generally perpendicular to one another. As opposed to in-line electrical connectors, the right angle connectors are configured to provide a signal path through a bend or corner in a housing. Right angle connectors may be advantageous over linear connectors in certain applications, such as if there is limited clearance in the surrounding environment to load a mating plug in-line with the connector. However, right angle connectors may be complex and costly to design, manufacture, and assemble. It is difficult to maintain the impedance of such connectors between the mating and terminating ends as the signal path turns 90°, for example, within the connector housing. Additionally, some right angle connectors do not enable automated manufacturing. For example, in some existing right angle connectors, a center contact is inserted into the connector housing and then bent 90° manually using a tool in order to convey the signal path through the right angle corner. This manual assembly process is slow, and the manual bending may damage the center contact.
In other existing right angle connectors, two separate contacts are loaded within the right angle housing and are configured to connect with each other within the corner or bend of the housing to provide a signal path through the housing, instead of bending a single contact through the corner. For example, a first contact may have a pin and a second contact may have a double back socket, where the contacts connect when the pin is pushed between two opposing double back beams. The double back beams engage and retain the pin by an interference fit. For example, each double back beam forces the pin towards the other beam. But, the friction caused by the interference fit is the only force that prohibits the pin from moving relative to the socket. Therefore, during operation of the connector, vibration or other forces on the connector may cause the pin to slide relative to the socket, which at best decreases the electrical performance of the connector and at worst may cause the pin to back out of the socket altogether, breaking the signal path through the connector. Another problem with pin and double back socket connections is that the distal tip of the pin extends at least partially beyond the socket and creates an electrical stub. During operation of the connector, at least some of the electrical signal may be diverted through the distal tip of the pin instead of along the signal path, producing an antenna effect that potentially could broadcast a signal from the connector (although the connector shielding would prohibit signal transmission therethrough). The diversion of the electrical signals through the distal tip of the pin significantly reduces the electrical performance of the right angle connector, and the issue only increases as the signals are transmitted at higher frequencies. For example, the electrical performance of the connector may be much more degraded due to the antenna effect with radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted at higher frequencies of around 4-6 gigahertz (GHz) as opposed to RF signals transmitted at a lower frequency of about 2 GHz. A need remains for an electrical connector that provides effective electrical performance along a right angle or other transverse angle, especially when used to transmit electrical signals over higher frequencies.